SPORTS BRIEFS

AGENCIES

AUSTRALIAN RULES

Collingwood win final replay

Collingwood won the Australian Football League premiership by crushing St Kilda 16-12 (108) to 7-10 (52) in Melbourne, in yesterday’s rare Grand Final replay. After the teams drew last week — only the third drawn Grand Final in the history of the Australian Rules competition and first since 1977 — the Magpies left nothing to chance in the replay. Collingwood took charge from the start and led at all intervals, taking advantage of St Kilda’s poor accuracy in shooting for goal. The Magpies led by 27 points at halftime, but this time did not allow the Saints back into the contest. Collingwood clinched its win in the third quarter when it kicked five goals, taking a 41 point lead at the last change and going on claim its 15th premiership.

BOXING

China wins ‘Empires Collide’

China’s national team beat the US 6-5 in an amateur boxing tournament in New York as Beijing Olympic medalists Zhang Zhilei and Zou Shiming both pounded out wins over their US opponents on Friday. China swept the final three bouts overwhelming their US counterparts in the exhibition dubbed “Empires Collide,” which marked the first amateur dual meet between the two countries on US soil. The results validated China’s surprising performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where they captured four medals compared with just one bronze for the US.

RALLYING

Loeb grabs day one lead

Defending world champion Sebastien Loeb of France took the overall lead on the first day of the Rally of France on Friday, taking another step toward a seventh straight world title. Loeb won five of the eight special stages of the day on his way to building up a 22.7-second lead over his Citroen teammate Dani Sordo. Frenchman Sebastien Ogier, driving another Citroen, was third 25.6 seconds behind. Loeb leads the drivers’ standings over Ogier by 43 points and can claim a seventh consecutive world title with a win on home soil.

EQUESTRIAN

Gal rides to gold

Edward Gal of the Netherlands won the Grand Prix freestyle dressage at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday, earning his third gold medal at the event. Gal, aboard Moorlands Totilas, also won the special dressage earlier in the week and helped the Dutch to the team gold in the Grand Prix dressage competition. Britain’s Laura Bechtolsheimer won the silver and American Steffen Peters took the bronze in a repeat of the top three spots from the special dressage. Germany leads the team competition, while Britain was second and Sweden third.

VOLLEYBALL

US bump Cameroon

The US rallied for a 3-2 win over crowd favorite Cameroon at the men’s volleyball world championships in Ancona, Italy, on Friday, putting the Olympic champion back on track for a spot in the third round. The US won 23-25, 25-14, 25-27, 25-20, 15-7 before 3,950 fans. After opening the second round with a loss to the Czech Republic, the US now holds the advantage if Cameroon were to defeat the Czechs yesterday night, which would leave all three teams with 1-1 records and apply a tiebreaker of point ratio to determine the two teams to advance. Also on Friday, it was: Spain 3, Russia 2; Japan 0, France 3; Bulgaria 3, Poland 0; Germany 1, Italy 3; and Mexico 0, Cuba 3.

MOTOGP

Dovizioso claims first pole

Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso grabbed his first ever pole position in qualifying for the Japanese Moto Grand Prix at Motegi yesterday. The Italian clocked a fastest lap of 1 minute, 47.001 seconds at Motegi Twin Ring, edging his compatriot and reigning champion Valentino Rossi on a Yamaha by 0.054 seconds and Ducati rider Casey Stoner by 0.104 seconds. It came after Dovizioso marked the second-fastest lap times during the practice sessions on Friday afternoon and yesterday morning, trailing Rossi and championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in the respective sessions. Meanwhile, points leader Lorenzo took fourth place ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards.